“Tell me why you feel that way.”
Not a question, but also not a dismissal of my feelings. “Cuz she’s not.”
“Alexis.” There’s a hint of steel now in Auntie Gray’s tone, enough to have me giving into the need to shift nervously in my chair. I’m notentirelyconvinced she’d spank me, but I’m also not entirely convinced she wouldn’t. “You are going to tell me what’s going on, or you are going to put your nose in that corner until you’re ready to talk.”
The threat of cornertime convinces me to sneak a peek at her face to see if she’s bluffing. But it’s the concern I see there, the warmth of it in her dark eyes that finally loosens my tongue.
“She doesn’t want me,” I whisper, tears blurring my vision. “She wants Tori, but she can’t have her, so she settled for me.”
“Bullshit,” Uncle Axel growls, his eyes narrowing. There’s such fierceness in the words, in his expression, that I can’t help but shrink away from him.
“Axel, hush. You’re scaring the baby.” Rising now from her chair, Auntie Gray rounds the desk to crouch down in front of me, her hands resting on my thighs. “I can promise you that’s the furthest thing from the truth. Your Mommy lovesyouand wants you.”
“How would you know?” The tears I’ve been trying to hold back slip freely down my cheeks. “You don’t even know me.”
“True. But I’ve known your Mommy a very long time. She helped me and my brothers out of a tight spot a few years ago.” A smile curves her lips. “Truthfully, she saved our lives. So believe me when I tell you that I know Cat, and I know she wouldn’t be on her way here, right now, if she didn’t believe in her very soul that you arehers.”
“Really?” I want to believe her, so bad it’s a physical ache in my chest.
“Yes, sweetheart.” Auntie Gray’s lips twitch slightly, her expression turning sympathetic. “Unfortunately for you, that also means your bottom is going to be rather sore once she gets her hands on you.”
My stomach twists at her words. Somehow, in all of this, I never actually considered what would happen if I was caught. Perhaps because, deep down in my very soul, I really did believe Catharina wouldn’t care if I escaped. But now, knowing my Mommy’s on her way to come get me, I’m both terrified and elated. “Did she sound very mad on the phone?”
“Absolutely furious.” Her voice is far more chipper than it should be under the circumstances, and she flashes me a bright grin. “So we should probably take advantage of the little bit of time we have before she gets here. How does chocolate cake sound for dessert?”
“Gray, you’re going to spoil her,” Uncle Axel scolds from his position behind the desk, but even beneath his bushy beard I can tell his lips are twitching.
“Of course I am.” A wide grin stretches across Auntie Gray’s face. “It’s an Auntie’s prerogative, after all. So, how about that chocolate cake, little one?”
Lexie
The cake is surprisingly delicious, though I do turn down the offer of milk to wash it down. I’m too embarrassed to ask if it came from arealcow or the cows on the island, and if my Mommy finds out I drank someone else’s milk, I’ll be in even more trouble than Auntie Gray says I’m already in.
We’re just polishing off the giant slice we shared while Auntie Gray told me all about the home she shares with her six—six—brothers when the knock comes. A giant man, more slender than the others but still clearly very muscular, sticks his head in the office. “Helicopter incoming.”
“Thanks, Bane.” Pushing her chair back, Auntie Gray rises to her feet and holds a hand out for mine. “Come on, little one. Time to face the music.”
Heart pounding, I let her take me by the hand and lead me out of the office. Up a few flights of stairs to the deck, where the wind tugs playfully at my clothes and my hair, pulling the curls free of my ponytail as we wait.
Like something out of a movie, the helicopter lands on a pad at the far end of the deck, with dozens of men making hand gestures I don’t understand to guide the aircraft onto the landing pad.
It’s barely on the ground before Mommy is climbing out of the back, and my heart nearly stops at the sight of her. Even crouched low to avoid the blades, she’s still the most stunning, graceful woman I’ve ever seen and just the sight of her is enough to send me running.
But Auntie Gray’s hand clamps down hard on my shoulder. When I look up at her, she shakes her head, and even though everything in me wants to run straight into my Mommy’s arms, I force myself to wait.
The moment she’s given the all-clear, Mommy straightens, her head whipping around as she snarls at the crew. “Where is my baby?”
Unable to bear it a second longer, I break free of Auntie Gray’s grasp and run toward her. “Mommy!”
“Oh, god. Alexis!”
We collide in a tangle of limbs, and her body shakes against mine as she presses her face into my hair. “Mommy’s here, baby. I’m right here. You’re okay. You’re safe. You’re safe.”
I get the impression she’s trying to convince herself more so than me, and guilt settles heavy in my chest as I press myself as tightly against her as I can manage. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please don’t hate me!”
“My precious baby.” Pulling back, she cups my cheeks with her hands, tears sparkling in her eyes as her gaze roams my face. “I could never,everhate you. I love you, so fucking much, Alexis. And I plan to spend every day of the rest of my life making sure you know how much I love you.”
Though she doesn’tsoundangry, my bottom still clenches as though she’s just threatened to spank me every day for the rest of my life. Which is actually a possibility, now that I think about it. “I love you too, Mommy. I’m really, really sorry I worried you.”
